GM will ask salaried employees to return to the office for in-person work starting January 30th, 2023. The new strategy follows employee backlash at a similar proposal made last month.
For those readers still catching up, GM previously introduced a work-from-home strategy for many of its white-collar employees in an effort to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, later introducing a “Work Appropriately” strategy that enabled workers to continue to work from home, or to work from the office, as deemed necessary.
Last month, GM announced that its remote work policies would be changing with the receding threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, asking workers to return to the office three days a week. Employees were notified of the change via an internal message from senior GM leadership, including a note from GM CEO Mary Barra.
“Over time, we have lost some of the important, intangible benefits of regularly working together in-person including, casual mentoring, more efficient communication and bringing an enterprise mindset to work,” Barra wrote. “We are entering a rapid launch cycle that, quite frankly, will define our future trajectory, and we need to drive change with speed – individually and collectively – so we can achieve our goals.”
However, employee backlash at the proposed change to the work-from-home strategy prompted Barra to walk back on the in-person work proposal, with GM stating that it would work listen to feedback to implement the right changes and balance a need for in-person work with the needs of employees.
Now, according to a recent report from Detroit Free Press, which cites anonymous individuals familiar with the plans, it looks as though GM is set to begin in-person work for white-collar employees starting early next year. According to the report, GM department heads began meeting with teams to discuss the plan to bring workers back to the office on a more regular schedule, with an expectation that workers will be required to make an in-person appearance in the office at least three days a week. That said, it is noted that GM will offer flexibility depending on the job and department.
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Comments
I’ve been back in the office, full-time, since May of 2020. Work from home for many just means “day-off, while occasionally responding to emails & calls”… I think employees and companies have milked the Covid card long-enough (I can’t believe they are still allowing it). If you don’t want to show up anymore, retire or quit.
Depends on what you do and where you work. You may have not been able to handle the responsibility and freedom, but I get considerably more work done working remote than I do from the office. Fewer distractions, more work being processed and I can eat lunch with my kids and see them on and off. It has dramatically increased my quality of life and productivity. But you need to have a quality dedicated space in your home that is away from others.
agree with both… Home Home “Office” is infinite better losing time in traffic jams … As since 12 years retired, do not intend to go back in old system in any way, but for a worker in line montage assembling is harder… Company of wife imposed her to go back to office because a table of 6 m x 3 m… we do not have this space at home… so unfortunate she got risks and is issued disease
and the paradox, the company for whom she works for is a “wealthy corporation”, she got Corona even with all measures… but the company does not understand a laptop or a personal computer do not need a table bigger than 1.2 m x 0.80, so is so, companies make our lives harder, pity
By the Way Jonathan Lopez & GMA Team, you and we, we all know Julian is Opening the GM Design England near South Coventry, in middle of nowhere in country side. Do you know exact the Address ? Searched everything, because proposed to him and Smith in North Hollywood California studios to be an offshore helper home here in Hamburg. Other side of world, as said would prefer GM doing a Studio in Wedel near Ships and Elbe river but seems impossible to them. So as applied with Details in GM Webseite and do not have neither USA Green Card and neither Employment Certification for UK, you know, englanders decided to leave us with Brexit, suppose GM ignoring me again, but just to know the address correct in UK. Julian told the small Village but in UK Registers did not found a new GM
Been and still have work from home. Will continue to do so.
My company is saving money. I am saving money and time. We have been more productive and we have expanded our hiring.
GM is only doing this to prevent the PR of leaving down town Detroit. To be honest they would be better off working from home and any in office to be moved to the tech center.
While I know I’m saving, my 4 monitors and high powered laptop are probably not very energy efficient. Someday I will hook a kill-a-watt to it to see how much per month it costs me in electricity. My truck also gets 18mpg and it’s about 50-60 minutes round trip.
I tend to put more hours in at home due to the lack of commute. So If I’m doing 8 in the office on site, I’m putting in 8.5 sometimes 9 at home. It’s win win for everyone.
What about this key element?
“There is some resentment that two of GM’s senior leaders — CFO Paul Jacobson and Senior Vice President of Strategy and Innovation Alan Wexler — who signed the return-to-work policy, have “work from home” listed on their company profiles in GM’s internal directory. The Free Press confirmed the profiles do list Jacobson as “work from home – Georgia” and Wexler as “work from home – Wyoming.”
I suppose senior leadership is immune from the emerging requirements of “more efficient communication and bringing an enterprise mindset to work, and [a] need to drive change with speed” but maybe they should strive to set an example for the underlings. Tone at the top is important.
The best employees will leave and find work where they can work from home. The deadbeats will go back because they have no skills and cant find another job.
Gotta’ justify those watchdog Supervisor’s Salaries somehow with employees being present for them to micro-manage ! LOL Also have to wear out those employee vehicles with commuting so they can sell more of the expensive heaps.
Between recent poor engineering designs, lack of quality control, loose supplier oversight/accountability, union/labor issues, and macro economic outlook — yeah, I think it’s time to get back to the office for GM. Need to have more people with more fingers on the pulse — daily.
Work from home is great, but relies on entire teams maintaining high productivity and self-regulation with little-to-no oversight for daily output. I’d rather have a 50% employee that can be cattle-prodded in the seat at times, compared to a 0-25% employee who is using mouse jigglers, overemployment/side-hustles, and mostly traveling around the world sitting on the beach or participating in van life.
How does dragging thousands of people into an office at least 3 days each week support “Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion”? Seems like it’ll be doing the opposite.
The party is over people. No more screw off time and 1/2 day work days from home. Many will whine and kick their feet over this. I never got to stay home. I worked all thru covid. I was considered essential. Internet repair work. I went inside 100’s of strangers homes all during covid. And I never got it. So the scamdemic is over people, time to get back to reality.